Author: Nils Temmen

On Friday March 20th 2020, from 10:00-12:00 the GJETC will be presenting final results of the 2nd phase of the GJETC (2018-2020) along with the policy recommendations derived from the reports, during a public Outreach at the Japanese-German Center Berlin (JDZB). Aside from the 2 core topics of the 2nd phase “Hydrogen Society” and “Digitization & Energy Transition”, the working groups have prepared input papers in bilateral cooperation between the respective GJETC experts on numerous issues:

Tokyo, 24th September 2019. On September 23th and 24th the 7th meeting of the German-Japanese Energy Transition Council (GJETC) was held in Tokyo. In addition, the council organized an Outreach Event on the afternoon of the second day to inform about the unbundling of electricity markets and management options.

Japan is restructuring its electricity market and competing energy suppliers, unbundling grid and competitive balancing markets are the results. Digitization can enable system operators, producers, traders, consumers and storage providers to co-operate and use the renewable power instead of wasting it. This hypothesis is the background for a study conducted by the GJETC. The Wuppertal Institute and the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ) as the scientific secretariats of the GJETC, analysed concepts of virtual power plants and their underlying business models as well as the use of Blockchain technology. The focus was set on case studies such as the German company Next Kraftwerke and the US energy supplier Pacific Gas & Electric. First results have been discussed at the 7th meeting of the council.

Group picture of GJETC members and staff on the 7th council meeting in Tokyo.

The study shows that Virtual Power Plants (VPP) business models may be largely dependent upon the regulatory framework, renewable energy resources, the electricity supply system as well as the electricity market system. Experiences from Germany show that for example the gradual expiration of FIT (Feed-in Tariff), which is also the case for Japan, will create a favourable business environment for VPP. IT systems and market structure on the other hand currently do not seem to influence VPP models significantly. However, as Germany is the only country with fully commercialized VPP so far this might very well change in the future as maturing markets might lead to different developments and results in other countries.

External experts and council members at the Outreach Event on September 24th: Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dieter Borchardt (Deputy Director of the Directorate-General for Energy of the European Commission), Junichi Ogasawara (IEEJ), Dr. Boris Rigault (Head of the Field Industrial Steam Turbines at Siemens AG) and Steffen Riediger (Director European Power Derivatives at European Energy Exchange, short EEX).

“Experiences in Europe show that integrating a high share of renewable energy production into the electricity markets means providing flexibility on the generation and demand sides, as well as creating strong price signals”, said Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dieter Borchardt during the Event. The Outreach is intended to provide both strategic and in-depth insights on selected topics related to electricity markets and growing shares of renewable energy production in both countries.

The next scheduled council meeting will be held in Berlin on 18th and 19th March 2020. A video on the concept and work of the GJETC as well as study results, input papers, and a final report of the 1st phase (in English, summaries in Japanese and German) can be downloaded in the Publication section of the website.

Japan is in the process of restructuring its electricity market, e.g. introducing competition in supply, unbundling, and competitive balancing markets. Germany, as a member state of the European Union, has already restructured its power market in the years since 1998. Both countries, however, will have to develop their electricity markets further to master the energy transition. This concerns particularly the integration of large shares of generation based on mostly variable renewable energy.

Following the 7th GJETC Council Meeting on 23rd/24th September in Tokyo the GJETC is organizing an Outreach Event to discuss this issue with the public:

Needs, Experiences, and Options for Japanese-German Cooperation”

When? Tuesday, September 24th, 14:30-16:30

Where? Institute of Energy Economics Japan (IEEJ), Tokyo

The Outreach Event is intended to provide both strategic and in-depth insights on selected topics related to electricity markets and growing shares of renewable energy production in both countries. The invited experts represent a mix of government, science/academia and the private sector. The input presentations and discussion are intended to lead to a better understanding of the possibilities of bilateral collaboration on the Energy transition.

The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) has been promoting scientific exchange between Japan and Germany since the 1930s. The German Society of JSPS Fellows awarded the JACA Prize to Prof. Dr. Peter Hennicke, Senior Advisor at the Wuppertal Institute, at the German-Japanese symposium “Art, architecture and technology” in Vienna on May 24. The JSPS Alumni Club Award 2019 (“JACA Prize” for short) was given to Peter Hennicke for “his outstanding contribution to the realisation of scientific exchange between German-speaking countries and Japan”. The award also appreciates Peter Hennicke’s role as German Co-Chair of the German-Japanese Energy Transition Council (GJETC) and the GJETC’s three years of cooperation. The laudatio reads: “The JACA of 2019 honours Professor Hennicke representing the founding consortium of the worldwide unique GJETC”.

In his acceptance speech, Hennicke also addressed the role of the cooperation model: “The award is a great honour and an enormous encouragement for me and for the entire team of the German Japanese Energy Transition Council. The aim of our cooperation with Japan is to demonstrate that the energy transition can succeed better, despite considerably different starting positions in Germany and Japan, if both countries learn from their strengths, but also try to make their weaknesses transparent in order to avoid them.”

Berlin, 7th March 2019. In the last two days the 6th meeting of the German-Japanese Energy Transition Council (GJETC) has been held in the Japanese-German Center Berlin. The first meeting in 2019 took place primarily with a focus on digitization. A new working group was set up to deal with the issue of “Digitization and the Energy Transition”. At the sidelines of the meeting, members of the GJETC also visited an outstanding sector coupling project that uses surplus energy for heating and cooling.

The GJETC has dedicated one of its newly established working groups to the subject of “Digitization and the Energy Transition”. The Wuppertal Institute and the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ) as the scientific secretariats of the GJETC are currently investigating concepts of virtual power plants and their underlying business models. The focus is on case studies such as the German company Next Kraftwerke and the US energy supplier Pacific Gas & Electric. In addition, the activities of German municipal utilities (“Stadtwerke”) in the field of digitization are of interest. The research group also puts an eye on the heat sector in terms of district heating storage and sector coupling.

Digitization can enable system operators, producers, traders, consumers and storage providers to co-operate and use the renewable power instead of wasting it. “Utilization before limitation” is also the motto of the WindNODE showcase project within the SINTEG program of the German Economic Ministry (BMWi), which was presented on the 2nd day. The aim is to integrate as much renewable energy into the system as possible while also maintaining the grid stability. New flexibility options through sector coupling and regional power plants are tested to prevent congestions and ensure optimal use of green energy. Following the Council Meeting the German and Japanese experts visited a sector coupling project by GASAG Solutions on the EUREF-Campus, concerned with Power-to-Heat (P2H) and Power-to-Cold (P2C). The system enables the intelligent use of surplus electricity for heating with an electric heater and two storage tanks as well as cooling with two compression refrigerator machines. In addition, the connection to a bio methane CHP can compensate for low supply voltage and keep the system stable. The Japanese Council Members were impressed by the project: “Grid stabilization is always one of the most sensitive points when talking about renewable energy integration, especially in Japan. The intelligent combination of P2H, P2C and the CHP plant pose an interesting option for the energy supply of districts in the future”, said Prof. Yasumasa Fujii from the University of Tokyo.

For the second working phase which started in October 2018, the GJETC installed working groups including Council Members as well as external experts from industry and civil society in order to facilitate a more focused research on five specific topics („bottlenecks“) of energy transition identified in phase one. One of the newly implemented working groups of the GJETC accompanies a comparative study on “The Future Role of Hydrogen in the German and Japanese energy systems”. The study includes an analysis of the status quo, a meta-analysis of existing scenarios on the role of hydrogen in the Japanese and German energy systems, and an overview of standards and regulations.

After two years of successful work which culminated in an extensive 800 pages study program and a Final Report published in April 2018, the German-Japanese Energy Transition Council (GJETC) will continue its work in a 2nd phase from this fall. Thanks to the renewed support of the German Environment Foundation (DBU), the German Federal Foreign Office and the Japanese Ministry of Economy and Trade (METI), the Council will independently develop ideas and alternative options for a long-term and sustainable energy supply strategy in both countries in the next 2 years.

Photo: GJETC 2.0 in Tokyo during 5th Council Meeting on 14th November

“The 2nd GJETC working phase comes just in the right timing as the long-term scenarios for the future alignment of energy policy are intensively discussed in Germany as well as in Japan. In the forerun to COP 24 in Poland and G20 summit in Japan, German and Japanese German governmental bodies and organizations intensified their consultations in several fields related to energy system of the future. For these discussions, the GJETC is a unique project of independent bilateral scientific cooperation, which aims to continue to give science-based impulses for the energy policy in both countries”, stated Prof. Peter Hennicke, German Co-Chair of the GJETC.

GJETC 2.0 will adopt a new working style. In addition to the biannual meetings, working groups including Council Members as well as external experts from industry and civil society will be installed to facilitate a more focused research on specific topics („bottlenecks“) of energy transition identified in phase 1. A special focus will be set on the review of German and Japanese long-term scenarios (for 2050) and their evaluation mechanisms as well as on building energy efficiency and heating/cooling. Furthermore, two fundamental studies on “H2 Society“ and the Role of „Digitization for the Energy Transition“ will be carried out and accompanied by the Council.

In order to cover all the diverse topics while preserving the core of the Council, some new members have been introduced: Prof. Dr. Andreas Loeschel, Chair of Microeconomics at the University of Muenster and Member of the German Governmental Energy Transition Monitoring Expert Group; Dr. Harry Lehmann, General Director at the Federal Environmental Agency (UBA); Dr. Carsten Rolle, Head of Department for Energy and Climate Policy at the Federation of German Industries (BDI); Prof. Kazuhiko Takeuchi, President of the renowned Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES).

The next Council meetings are held in Tokyo on November 14/15, 2018 and in Berlin on March 6/7, 2019. A video on the concept and work of the GJETC as well as the study results, input papers, and final report of the 1st phase (in English, summaries in Japanese and German) can be downloaded from the GJETC website.

In the face of the paltry ambitious global implementation of the Paris Agreement Japan and Germany, as leading industrialized nations, have a special responsibility to contribute towards a global decarbonization. The vivid – and sometimes also controversial dialogue – on ways and means for the energy transition is more important than ever.

Within the framework of the “German-Japanese Energy Transition Council” (GJETC) experts from Germany and Japan have been working on analyzing the challenges of the energy transition in Germany and Japan in the past 2 years in order to develop policy advice how the energy transition in both countries can be accelerated by collaborative learning.

The mutual recommendations for the different stakeholders from politics, industry and civil society will be presented and discussed by the Council from German and Japanese side in a public Outreach event together with the question of the role of such a form of binational cooperation in the international context.

The Importance of International Cooperation under Disruptive Changes:

Recommendations & Lessons Learnt from a Fruitful German-Japanese Dialogue on the Energy Transition

Berlin/ Tokyo Friday, 20th April 2018. The challenges and also potentials of the energy transition are tremendous in Germany, as well as in Japan. Sometimes, structures of the old energy world need “creative destruction” to clear the way for innovations for a decarbonized, low-risk energy system. In these times of disruptive changes, a constructive and sometimes controversial dialog within leading industrial nation as Japan and Germany over the energy transition is even more important. The German-Japanese Energy Transition Council (GJETC) today released results of two years of fruitful dialogue.

The German-Japanese Energy Transition Council is an international model project to strengthen the exchange of knowledge over technologies, policies and the effects of the energy transition. The concept is based on the conviction that joint solutions accelerate the realization of the energy transition, if national differences, different interests, motivations and values between the partner are made transparent, clearly articulated and respected. This can also serve as an example for other countries.

Besides the 800 pages of study results of the German-Japanese research consortia on core subjects of the energy transition, the council also published a row of strategical input papers. In three stakeholder dialogues with the industry, with producers and users of energy efficiency technologies and with decentralized actors of the energy transition, as well as in two outreach events with 100 participants each the Council continuously searched for a broad discussion with the public.

Today, the council presented a summarizing report for the first project phase. It includes jointly formulated recommendations for politics as well as a controversial dialogue part. Around 80 experts from ministries, industry and academia as well as parliamentarians and NGOs attended the presentation of the report in the Press and Visitors’ Center of the Federal Government in Berlin.

The Council jointly states and recommends that:

Ambitious long-term targets and strategies for a low-carbon energy system must be defined and ambitiously implemented; Germany and Japan as high technology countries need to take the leadership.

Both countries will have to restructure their energy systems substantially until 2050 while maintaining their competitiveness and securing energy supply.

Highest priority is given to the forced implementation of efficiency technologies and renewable energies, despite different views on nuclear energy.

In both countries all relevant stakeholders – but above all the decision-makers on all levels of energy policy – need to increase their efforts for a successful implementation of the energy transition.

Design of the electricity market needs more incentives for flexibility options and for the extensive expansion of variable power generation, alongside with strategies for cost reduction for electricity from photovoltaic and wind energy.

The implementation gap of the energy efficiency needs to be closed by an innovative energy policy package to promote the principle of “Energy Efficiency First”.

Synergies and co-benefits of an enhanced energy and resource efficiency policy need to be realized.

Co-existence of central infrastructure and the growing diversity of the activities for decentralization (citizens funding, energy cooperatives, establishment of public utility companies) should be supported.

Scientific cooperation can be intensified by a joint working group for scenarios and by the establishment of an academic exchange program.

The members of the Council jointly determined that “the GJETC has created a format and role model, that enables science-based policy advice, close to politics but independent from political interference.“ The members of the Council therefore agreed that the successful work of the GJETC should be continued and raised to a new level in a second phase (2018-2020).

In the face of the paltry ambitious global implementation of the Paris Agreement Japan and Germany, as leading industrialized nations, have a special responsibility to contribute towards a global decarbonization. The vivid – and sometimes also controversial dialogue – on ways and means for the energy transition is more important than ever.

Within the framework of the “German-Japanese Energy Transition Council” (GJETC) experts from Germany and Japan have been working on analyzing the challenges of the energy transition in Germany and Japan in the past 2 years in order to develop policy advice how the energy transition in both countries can be accelerated by collaborative learning.

The mutual recommendations for the different stakeholders from politics, industry and civil society will be presented and discussed by the Council from German and Japanese side in a public Outreach event together with the question of the role of such a form of binational cooperation in the international context.

The Importance of International Cooperation under Disruptive Changes:

Recommendations & Lessons Learnt from a Fruitful German-Japanese Dialogue on the Energy Transition

How can a long-term and risk-minimizing energy strategy which protects the climate and natural resources and at the same time creates jobs and drives the economy be realized? This is a challenge where international cooperation is more important than ever. As leading industrialized nations, Germany and Japan have a special responsibility to take the lead for implementing the “Paris Agreement” and to contribute as much as possible to a global deep decarbonization pathway. Since its foundation in May 2016, the German-Japanese Energy Transition Council (GJETC) has been working on strategic and systemic analysis to develop policy advice for new and long-term perspectives on the way to an ambitious energy transition.

Japan is in the process of restructuring its electricity market, e.g. introducing competition in supply, unbundling, and competitive balancing markets. Germany, as a member state of the European Union, has […]